


Gymnosperm

by Dodo



Series: Animal AUs no one asked for [1]
Category: Marvel
Genre: Anthropomorphic trees, BAMF James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Peter is a Little Shit, Peter is there for a hot second, Pining, Sex Pollen, Tree Sex, Trees, hawkeye and falcon mentioned, long leaf pine, slash pine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-24 07:04:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17699840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dodo/pseuds/Dodo
Summary: Gymnosperm- naked seeda story where Tony and Steve literally pollinate each other.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I chose pine trees because I am more familiar with them and the ecosystems that they are in. Pine trees are heterosporous so they have both male and female components which I felt was best.
> 
> A great and witty take on the 'sex pollen' prompt.
> 
> Tony is a Slash Pine and Steve is a hybridization of slash and longleaf pine. There is some botany stuff in here I tried to keep it at a minimum.

The scrub flat lands was sort of sparse this year, there had been a devastating fire prior and Tony found himself quite alone. His harty trunk had easily faired the fire well, and with previous fires in his life he was much better off. Or rather his competition was all pretty much burnt to a crisp. Even Happy the far off scrub oak didn’t look so good, though it could be that he just didn’t have any leaves being winter right now.

Oaks were weird, okay they got naked every winter. It was a bizarre sort of thing that Tony had watched every year. Happy and Pepper, which were two scrub oaks about a hundred meters away. Pepper was far more tree like, Happy was a wild sprawling mess of a tree, but it worked. Only time would tell if the oaks would be okay the lack of leaves and stillness belied Tony into thinking that they were ‘sleeping’. He wiggled his own needles they were about two years old and while some were singed most were good, the few that were missing had replacements on the way.

Hammer that annoyingly gusty palmetto down below him had clung to his trunk over the years. This year’s fire had removed that gewgaw monocot, burned away leaving a withered husk, It had been uncomfortable since Hammer had situated himself around Tony’s roots. Palmettos were oily or something and tended to burn much longer, and it was a harrowing ideal to deal with the palmetto’s shrieks and heat.as a result of the closeness of the other plant, Tony was a bit singed there but having survived worse. There were other things to focus on, like spring! The wetter winter was almost over and having sort of jumped the gun on the preparations, Tony sported some newer spring green needles. He was very excited for this year’s spring.

Hammer was gone, a plus. The charred ashen stump of Howard was finally no more. Tony didn’t have that reminder anymore. Leaning to the side to survey the area Maria had been long ago, she was long gone. Her stump had been smaller and had not made it through his first fire, which had irked him because of course Howard’s stump had. Standing taller than he’d been at the time of the fire. Shaking his boughs, no thoughts of his ‘parents’ he was pretty sure he was maria’s cone, but he refused to believe that Howard had contributed anything more than shade. 

Surely it had been one of the many other pine in the area. They were after all quite proficient in propagating. Howard had that long black gash down his trunk and half of his foliage hadn’t been green in many years. He was a failing tree by the time of Tony's Maturation into a lovely green seedling. Lightning had done that according to Maria, who was sure the lightning had turned Howard sour.

Straightening up and letting the cool easterly winds rustle through his needles. A good fire ment more nutrients for him and his chances at reproducing. Creaking back in the wind he scoped out the land and a feeling of loss hits him, there were hardly any pine trees left, and what remained was just sticks, scorched toothpicks poking up from the blackened earth. He hoped maybe the wind currents, or maybe he could convince Rhody the gopher tortoise to help carry his pollen. Self pollination was always a thing but he’d been looking forward to dusting everyone else.

Wilting a bit at the thought of self pollinating, well if he had to do that maybe rody could move the cones away from his base. He’d hate to loom over his little ones like Howard had done to him. Thinking on maybe a loose ring a couple meters away would be good, for both fire and the gale force winds that arrived late summer.

-

The man with the shiny arm, the one that had chopped Maria to the ground and had weakened Howard till he’d broken in the middle. Tearing the limbs off and harvesting the inner heart, the spine of his ‘cone mother’ taken while the branches had been chewed up and spat out by a diabolical machine. That was always hungry, swallowing Howard as he yelled profanities at the bushy sapling that was tony at the time. To small to be of any use he watched them haul away his ‘cone mother’s inner core. He’d had Obadiah for a bit but then of course that many with the shiny arm had claimed obie as well. Same with ana and jarvis they’d all been hacked into many pieces in front of his trunk.

Tony swayed as his anxiety climbed, he was next. It was obvious the man with the shiny arm that cut down everyone else was here for him. Wishing he had some cones to try and festoon upon the man, he wouldn’t go down without a fight. Limbs creaking as he tried to lull the man into a false sense of security. 

The shiney arm was left in the vehicle and the man seemed to be looking for something. Sticking a squarish stick into one of Rhodey’s many ‘bachelor pad’ holes, placing a little pink flag in each one. It was curious Tony ended up casting shade over the man as he worked, leaning over to see what was going on. In the end the human had dug a very big hole, Tiny was no hole expert, he’d have to wait for Rhodey. The lively Tortoise was due in the late spring having asked Tony the year prior to hold on to some of his cones. For Rhodey, Tony would do just that, even if the seeds didn’t make it out and become trees, the lively tortoise would spend most of summer with him. Some years he’d spent the winter too, it had been nice.

-

Tony stirred returning to the ground, having spent who knows how long with his head up in the clouds watching birds pass over him and the desolation of the pine flat lands. He’d seen a flock of thrushes land in Pepper and Happy’s branches, they hadn’t stayed long though and soon the air was still. No more calls, no more beating of wings. It was quite lonely out here, Tony wiggled a bit and started to turn upwards to return to the clouds, when something made him twist looking just past the area Maria had once been.

There was another tree, in the hole that the man had made. The freshly tilled soil around the base of the skinnier tree. A pine Tony leaned over trying to gauge the age of the tiny thing, it was pretty tall to be a sapling, the needles looked a bit different. Rustling his limbs trying to draw the other’s attention but giving up when he decided maybe the other was tired from the transplant. He did stretch out a bit to give the other some shade from the sun, as spring heat was starting a bit earlier this year.

Resuming watching the sky, Tony was sure something fun would happen. If not the other tree, at least the sky was showing some interesting stuff. Probably by tonight if his calculations were the moon was doing its dance across the sky and well Tony didn’t like to brag, er actually he did. A tree with a canopy for the stars, hardly orthodox but the stars were a constant at least.

Just as predicted a few days later there was a nice lunar eclipse the moon turned that reddish color. Tony was pretty much basking in it, patting himself on his trunk, his calculations had been right of course they had been. It was a nice start to the spring celestial events he could watch orion shimmy his way off the horizon and see some of the stars that sort of migrated below the horizon line. 

There was a stifled gasp near him, Tony turned back to the newly transplanted tree, it was stretching out to the moon, in an almost worried manner.

“What happened?”  
The tree asked hesitantly, soft needles quivering. Tony carefully lowered his head from the stretched out star gazing position. Turning and trying to look as non threatening as possible.

“Lunar eclipse, the earth, is blocking the sun’s light, you’ve seen the moon before right.”  
The smaller tree straightened up indignantly.  
“Of course I’ve seen the moon before! I wasn’t born yesterday!”

Tony merely rustled his needles as he turned back to the eclipse, the smaller pine followed suit and they spent most of the night like that. With the occasional question from the smaller pine about some of the stars.

It went on some time the smaller pine was only lively at night, and pretty much ignored tony during the day. It was a bit dreary, Tony tried to put it off as being transplanted, surely that must take a toll on the other. Spring was there and tony was starting to produce his eggs and sperm, he was waiting for one of those squalls to blow in and take it far away from here.

Rhodey had arrived finally carrying a cone just for Tony from another forest that ‘actually had trees’. The tortoise had shoved the cone in the ashes of Howard’s remains much to Tony’s dismay.  
“I may look like a rock Tones but I know what I’m doing.”  
Rhody groused at him in good fun. Digging out the favored hole just under Tony’s boughs.

“Whos the new guy?”  
Tony shook, eager to babble about his new star watching buddy; though fell short because he didn’t have a name. Limbs sagging upon that revelation.

“He’s a tree that likes to stargaze with me but I’ve never gotten his name, and he won’t talk during the day.”   
Rhodey craned his head out to look at the other tree, then back at Tony.  
“You do look pretty gnarly man, I guess the fire had to be pretty strong to get rid of hammer.”

Tony straightened out some preening at the complement, the scars prove resistance. The little tree was listening in it seemed and it finally spoke.  
“I’m Steve, a government hybrid pine, they want to provide the gopher tortoises with more habitat. So they combined the longleaf pine’s quick growth with the hardiness of a slash pine. Though I just feel like a normal tree.”

“Ah so I’m the tortoise of the hour! Pleasure to meet you Steve, you better get on with it then. Tony here will help, he loves this sort of thing. Now he’s got someone to participate! I look forward to more delicious cones.”  
Rhodey winked at tony and then slid back into his burrow, ready to sleep out the peak heat.

Steve was quite for a moment moving slightly in the wind, ridgid. Nervous almost, looking at Tony with a bit of confusion coloring the branches.  
“Get on with what?”

Tony offered a branch with a small cone growing on it.   
“Reproduction, we can share pollen. Germinate each other and the Rhodey eats a lot of the cones and spreads some seeds that way and the air takes the rest...some might remain. I was thinking of making a circle or something.”

“What, you want to have sex with me?”  
Steve was shocked needles straightening out, the thick robust pine wanted to germinate with him?! He’d worred that he wouldn’t be strong enough to manage the transplantation but now, he’d never thought he’d make it this far. 

“Uh yeah? Is that okay? I can self propagate er but it will probably happen regardless with the wind, and the pollen. Sorry.”  
Limbs wilting Tony wasn’t sure if he was being spurned but it really didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. He could provide rhodey with germinated cones by himself. Offering a bundle of needles at Steve in apology.

“I’m just surprised, I’d love to...It would be my first time, uh not in the nursery. It's kind of intimidating.”  
Steve offered his own branch brushing against Tony’s offered one, feeling the needles with his own. Tony sighed at the touch this was nice he wouldn’t mind if they grew together a bit. To feel steve brush up against his canopy in the wind that would probably feel delightful.

“No worries! A little shimmy and shake, we can compare notes! I’m sure your a natural at it Steve.”  
Tony offered happily after all pines were quite prolific in this aspect. He didn’t think there was any need to worry about pollination, the way he saw it they had many years ahead of them to practice.

Tony stretched out his limbs lifting a lower branch to show off the male cone which was much smaller than the cones higher up. That was normally how they came in, possibly to prevent self pollination. Steve was a bit shorter though, actually much shorter. Canting his boughs as he looked over the other.

Steve leaned in checking out the smaller cones and then checking his own, he too had the smaller on the bottom with the bigger on top.   
“Okay so the smaller ones make the pollen, your just going to dust me?”

“Ah, yeah. I mean there is a squall coming, and that should get mine pollinated pretty well.”  
Tony waved at the clouds, some were puffy white but on the horizon loomed the vast grey columbo nimbus clouds. Tony could feel the moisture in the breeze, the storm would be here soon. At the rate the clouds were moving it would probably be a quick shower, if that. Sometimes the rain clouds moved so fast they forgot to depart the rain.

“Oh, yeah I thought maybe the sprinklers… or.”  
Steve did a full bough shrug, and changed the topic.  
“Show me your catkins again?”

Tony happily obliged showing Steve his male cones, watching the other tree carefully. He hoped they were what Steve wanted they looked good to Tony, though he really didn’t have any comparisons at hand and when the others had been around, he never had an interest in what was going on. To focused on growing closer to the stars.

“They look delicate, and soft. Like you could pollinate acres with what you have there.”  
Steve lifted his own catkins comparing them, they were similar.  
“I like yours more.”  
Offering a soft shrug as the storm winds whipped up rustling them both.

“And I like yours better, Steve. They are a different color but look just as delicate as mine. I think your sperm will be excellent with my cones, I hope mine can be as good for you!”  
Tony gesticulated wildly with his upper boughs, even if it would take a while for the embryo to grow and make viable cones for Rhodey. Steve perked up at those words looking very eager and extended another branch, deedles stretching out. Tony met him half way and they shared a sappy moment, that had no sap in it.

Down below Rhodey groused about them just getting on with it. Complaining about the romantic trees and that sort of nonsense, apparently Pepper and Happy were equally sappy with their feelings.   
“Trees and sap man, you guys are naturals at it.”  
Some sandy earth was tossed out of the hole and the muttering got muffled.

The spring storm was almost upon them Steve did a shimmy and shake in the wind letting his pollen loose on the winds that whipped through him. The little wing like structures aided in the updraft flying straight into Tony’s upper branches.

“Oh Steve that was clever!”  
As the winds faded tony returned the favor with a heavy shake, and his pollen scattered like rain with the absence of the wind. Coating Steve with his own orangy pollen. Tony decided then he liked Steve covered in his pollen. They continued on dousing each other with their pollen, a pollen fight that ended when the storm blew past them. Steve needed the wind to uplift his pollen to Tony’s female cones.

“That was fun! Tomorrow?”  
Steve inquired swaying a bit still carrying the dusty orange on a good portion of his needles. Tony laughed swaying along with steve, checking out the yellowish pollen Steve had managed to get on him. Some of his female cones were quite coated, Steve exceeded expectations.

“Sure.”  
Replying easily, extending his branch again to touch Steve’s boughs and brush against his needles. It would take a while at least a year maybe two for the cones to mature but that didn’t mean they had to stop spraying each other with pollen. Tony felt that he could probably push out mature cone in a year he could feel it in his roots.

-

Rhodey was very pleased at the start of the next summer the cone crop was good, and on some days Tony could see Rhodey eye a few choice cones in his boughs. The tortoise was very heavy with the compliments mostly to Steve, who then offered them to Tony, much to his own pleasure. Both Happy and Pepper were again sporting the bright green plumage of spring and they sent their spores on the wind too, Rhodey traveled between them grousing about heat but happy to bring news and munch down on some of the dicot seeds.

That terrible man came back to pick up a few cones, Steve regarded the man warmly calling him ‘bucky’ even going so far to drop the last few cones at bucky’s feet. Bucky was smiling at Steve and patting the tree.  
“I knew you could do it, a strong tree you will be one day. Like this slash pine here.”

Tony remained quiet through that exchange he didn’t like it, but he wasn't going to do anything. If this program was to save Rhodey’s habitat the burrow on the outer reaches of his roots was a safe garud to Tony it seemed. Plus more cones meant rhodey would stay longer. He wasn’t able to share what he’d seen the man do to the other trees in the area either. Steve was happy and Tony decided that was enough.

-

Many years later there could be seen two magnificent pine trees a hundred meters from a pair of scrub oaks. In a newly dedicated national park that boasted 20 or something gopher tortoises accounted for. The ground was sparse with a few palmettos growing in, one jolly looking longleaf pine seedling poking up around the same place Howard once stood. The one Rhodey had brought from many miles away called Peter it was a hyper little seedling thriving with the other two pines ahead of the other seedlings by a few seasons.

Steve had gotten a falon buddy, and Tony had gotten some annoying hawk that might have been rehabbed at one point because some of its doings were truly bizarre. The birds got along well, or they didn’t but managed to stay out of each other’s way for the most part. More creatures returned to the pine flats and there was a lot more going on these days. They still had time for stargazing though.

Tony was very pleased with this, though sometimes he wished Peter would go to sleep. Was he that bad when he was a sproutling? Steve made everything better, always the optimist which was complemented Tony’s penchant for wandering into the depressive thoughts. Steve was the perfect pine for him.


	2. Bucky's journal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just bucky's fragmented journal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> extra stuff that I did for the original fic that didn't really fit, over a few years and just number in sequential order

1\. Okay so that therapist said a diary would help but i really don’t believe her, but it's not too hard to do. So I got this great forestry job in the ocala state park its huge I don’t have to talk to anyone I can just drive out to a sector and do some surveying and be alone. I can put this college degree to work, press some wild flowers see some birds your know all the nature things. I am 100% serious I fuckn love nature and here it is better and not over seas in the dusty hellscape that I lost my arm. The trees don’t judge, i’m at peace for the most part.

2\. I almost stepped on a rattlesnake today, I guess I know now what the warning rattle sounds like. It was a juvenile I bet I scared the legs off’im 

3\. Natasha has given me an area of land for upkeeps so I stay out of her ‘hair’. Which is fine its nice hair I’d probably muck it up somehow, I think she noticed my new haircut but I don’t know how to bring it up nore do i have much to say. She is my boss, I like her she can identify all the birds by their songs alone.

4\. Rumlow is an asshole, he didn’t charge the sat phones on his shift and they’re all dead so I have to stay in. There are people here I can see the questions in their eyes. I want to hide.

5\. My section of forest is really nice it has mostly pine trees in it but there are a lot of palmettos, like way to many I can barely navigate the floor. Natasha says the state doesn’t have enough money for controlled burns so when the place does catch fire, the whole place will burn. Its stupid, I think I’ll try and clear out some of the palmettos and make a dead zone moat around my area so I can try burning it maybe with some volunteers. Natasha did mention that they did that sometimes.

6\. Rumlow called me a robot to may face, I need this job. Though I wish to punch him. He’s a military wanna be I don’t see any branch taking him; he's a loose cannon, he mouths off to the guests, and bitches about Natasha. I don’t like him.

7\. I found two oak trees on my area, it's odd. They looked to be conjoined I’m not sure if it is the same tree I’ll have to ask natasha. Picked up a cicada shell, accidently left it on Bruce’s desk he spent some time examining it, I’ll just get another.

8\. I saw a pileated woodpecker today! He was hopping all over this pine tree it was covered in holes. It still looked healthy but man was it huge it might be one of the oldest trees in my area. I don’t think I’ve seen a trunk the big before. I need to go back to that area it was close to those two oaks.

9\. Ah I forgot the oaks! So Natasha told me that they are two different oaks but they grew so close, she says ‘sometimes that happens’ not a lot of people go to see them anymore due to the palmettos and the fact that there is a gopher tortoise in the area. She was hoping I’d meet “rhodey” but I haven’t seen him yet. Apparently he will follow rangers around and that's why he got his name.

10\. This is supposed to be about work but yesterday the doctor found a lump in my nub, and i’ll be going in for a biopsy next month. I’m nervous I just finally erm I’m just starting to get my life together now, I got invited to the friday bar meet with Bruce and Natasha. I hope it's nothing bad.

11.The bar was fun, Natasha asked me to call her Nat it may take me awhile to do that. I’m hopeful I might have a crush on her, but not sure really no biggie I have other things to focus on besides romance.

12\. Bruce wants me to collect some bugs in my area, I’ve got this list and I’m trying my best but some of these bugs look the same and I’m pretty sure out of the fifty I did collect that there is only 15 species they all look the same. I’ll apologize to him when i deliver them I feel bad that I couldn’t find more variety.

13\. What is bad? is that the pine tree with the big trunk is nearing its life and I don’t want it crushing that sapling that is nearby, and the other pine that's way too close to the baby. one was struck by lightning and is covered in fungus on the one side, I think it might be rotting from the inside out. I need to inspect it a bit more but it needs to go. I feel bad about knocking down that bigger tree too. There is a third tree off to the side that looks to have an infestation. The whole area is covered in those gopher holes gosh. I feel like I should clean out those trees for that little one and the tortoise that I’ve yet to see as well.

14\. I took some photos and showed them to Natasha and she agrees that the older trees should be cut down. She called the big tree Maria, apparently she’d been watching ‘her’ for a while and that tree is one of the older trees. When I cut that one down I’m supposed to get a disc of the wood for the rings, for Bruce. It's apparently a record book that can help him plan for things.

15\. Bruce is super excited about the bugs, he spend most of his day at the lodge. He’d happy to have samples even if there are repeats in the bug selection. He has thanked me profusely, I get the feeling that no one else gets him samples. So I’ve decided when I can I’ll bring him some stuff from my area if it's interesting or different.

16\. My first year anniversary at the job, Rumlow set off fireworks which he wasn’t supposed to do we’re in a drought. That and it gave my a fuckin scare. I retreated to my zone. Eating alone under that young tree… I finally met Rhodey. I feel like he was judging me, but he did stay around doing turtly things. It was nice to have company even if it was a judgmental living rock… he probably wanted my grapes.

17\. I pulled off some of that big fungus on that older pine around that young one. Bagged it and brought it to Bruce, he confirmed that the other tree need to go as well. I mean we already sort of knew but confirmation was nice, also Bruce was super excited over the fungus. He was going to preserve it because it was such a good example. I feel like I could bring a stick in and Bruce would get excited over it.

18\. Doctors say it isn’t bad the lump but we’ve got to keep in under observation, I might have taken my diagnosis to Bruce to have him explain it to me. I got a knowing look and he thanked me for including him. I think we may be friends? It just happened.

19\. I got the tools needed to fell those dying trees before a storm knocks them down and squishes that pretty new slash pine. I’ll take out the rotten fungus one first, the day is pretty over cast so that will help with the heat. This may be a few days to finish.

20\. I got 2 of the trees down the lightning struck tree fell but not how I intended I’m not sure its worth my time to chop down the trunk that's still there, there is a storm forecast I’ll be doing some paperwork at the lodge, Bruce has asked me to stay in for the storm. Its a big one and there is a tornado alert issued for our area everyone is to stay inside for it.

21\. Rumlow wrecked one of the john deere carts in the storm, he also suffered a concussion. He was out in it and panicked when he saw a tornado, which yeah I would too. But he was told to stay inside, he flipped it. He’s threatening to sue over this Nat doesn’t think he’ll win, Bruce is stressed out.

22\. I’ve taken over Rumlow’s section I’m not sure what he was doing… no I do know what he was doing I found his cigarette mound. I’m documenting it there are some cutting like initials on trees and I found a tent stashed away out by a rock. I also found condoms, both new and used. I think he’s been luring campers out here for a good time. Bruce will be happy to have all this evidence.

23\. Got into contact with a government funded tree nursery asking for a hybrid pine just one, I think cause the pines are heterosporous that another pine that's close enough to that slash pine should be able to fertilize each other. My zone has very little tree on it I’d like to change it.

24\. I finally chopped down Maria the tree, and I tried my best to remove her roots too, for Bruce I tell myself. Every time Bruce finds something ‘exquisite’ he tells Nat and she gives me one of those rare smiles. I’m such a sucker for that, and also watching Bruce get so excited over something is contagious.

25\. I found liquor bottles in another section of Rumlow’s zone, and some illegal fireworks. Which will have to be moved. Bruce has just asked me to mark on the map and take photos. I’m not to disturb anything. Though Nat told me over the Sat com to remove the fireworks. 

26\. I finished my dead zone moat, Nat has asked me to start on Rumlow’s section which is smaller so it shouldn’t take two ish years to do. Saw a turkey vulture over a part of Rumlow's land I went and inspected it, sound a possum in a bear trap, that was unnecessary. I did vomit, the thing must have suffered the back half was mangled in the trap. I marked it on the map and left. let the birds have at it before I try removing it.

27\. We got someone new, his name is Scott and he’s an Ant ologist, or just really passionate about ants. He has asked me for ants any I can find is fine. He also thanked me for my services, I think I like this guy.

28\. Got confirmation that my tree request was accepted it may take a few years for them to grow me one though. The lady on the phone hinted they may have one, she said it's a bit ‘scrawny’ but a good tree. I’m happy I think most pines start out pretty scrawny, excited for this. 

29\. Rumlow did sue, but Nat’s keeping it all hushed up for Bruce I think. I have to take some officers out to show them Rumlow’s stashes of junk we also surrendered his fireworks.

30\. My second year hire anniversary is not forgotten Scott attempted some cookies and we all ate them. Though with the litigation Bruce and Nat are pretty busy. Scott came out with me to my zone and went nuts with all the bugs. Learned he’s actually an electric engineer but always had a thing for bugs. Rhodey came and visited us, he seems upset about the palmetto that was around that slash pine’s roots, I tried to hack it away with my machete but Palmettos are tough little bastards.

31\. I finished the second dead zone moat, and fixed up my own, had some unwanted greens in it. The legal case got thrown out, apparently rumlow had also been evading taxes and the IRS was investigating. That and possible treason charges, Nat said. Something about overseas funding. I’m not sure what to think at this point.

32\. The check up with the doctor has me afraid the lump is grown, I too the diagnosis to Bruce, He just hugged me. I needed that, I’m scared again. I don’t know what to do.

33\. Nat has said my job will always be here if I come back from my treatments.

34\. I did get an email from Nat with an update on the park and a picture of them sitting down, in the background Rhodey is helping himself to their picnic basket. made me smile

35\. -dear journal it has been a year and a half, the treatment took a toll on me. I lost the rest of my arm, I have a new arm state of the art prosthetic. The worst part was not being able to work, I’ve been throwing myself into rehab. I want to get back to my job, my friends, my family. 

36\. The first day on the job I wasn’t allowed out into my zone. It's fine I spent it doing paperwork and talking with my friends. Bruce did visit me in the hospital, Nat mostly sent emails, and Scott did everything through snail mail. I missed them.

37\. Nat and a crew of volunteers burned the sections I’d prepared. My zone is basically a waste land the slash pine is beautiful though and the oaks the conjoined oaks survived as well. I checked out the other zone and it looks good too, Nat has given it’s care over to a local high school ecology class.

38\. The new pine is here, Bruce took over that and he helped me plant the thing. Scrawny my ass this tree is strong and I can’t wait to see it flourish.

39\. There was a lunar eclipse Bruce took a bunch of highschool kids out to see it. Scott has his daughter with him to see it. She’s got gumption I found her holding my prosthetic telling me I had to see the red moon with her as her date. I think I had a stupid smile on for the rest of the night.

40\. Nat has assigned me a new job I do some guided tours now. I’m much better with people now and I’m not super happy about this new aspect, but I trust Nat’s judgement on this.

41\. I came back to check on that newly transplanted pine, it has taken well I think it will give the slash a run for its’ money if trees had currency. I might have left a carrot or two in some of the assorted Rhodey holes 

42\. -dear journal, Its been a year or two and haven’t written much in you, it's because I don’t need to anymore. You did help, sometimes I forget I don’t need to be the strongest ever, need to be like a pine and sway in the winds. You know? Anyways those pines are doing well the oaks are doing great too. Rhodey the tortoise really brought in all the critters, there's a falcon and a red tail hawk in that area. I’ve since rehabbed a few zones as well but my first will always be near and dear to me. I’m in a happy poly relationship with Bruce and Nat, and with their support I’ve been more open about my past; and guess what? It does help. Thank you. -Buck


End file.
